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Thompson Okanagan

    A PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: “If mitigation is about CARBON, then adaptation is about WATER”, stated John Slater, Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation, at Okanagan Workshop on Managing Stormwater in a Changing Climate (October 2010)


    “Designing with nature captures the essence of climate change adaptation. Adaptation is about responding to the changes that will inevitably occur. Adaptation is at the community level and is therefore about collaboration. Rainwater management is at the heart of designing with nature,” stated John Slater. “When Kim Stephens asked me what does a lighter hydrologic footprint mean to me, I pointed across the street to the new Tim Horton’s. No water that falls on the building or on the parking lot leaves the site.”

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    The Okanagan Basin Water Board

    The Council provides balanced and considered advice to the Water Board on basin-wide water issues and works on solutions that reflect the best available science, innovative policy, and consensus approaches.

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    LIVING WATER SMART: “The Okanagan Sustainable Water Strategy seeks to ensure water resources are managed in a broader sustainability framework,” stated Anna Warwick Sears, OBWB Executive Director (2009)


    “The Sustainable Water Strategy is designed to build on the 1974 Okanagan Basin Study, a joint Federal/Provincial initiative to develop a comprehensive plan for the development and management of water resources in the Basin. The Sustainable Water Strategy is grounded in action. Twelve high-level Guiding Principles for water management and policy provide a framework for the Strategy. The key action items in the Strategy were developed respecting these Guiding Principles,” stated Anna Warwick Sears.

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    THE STORY OF THE PENTICTON FORUM: Smart Planning & Living Water Smart – Approaches & Tools for Doing Business Differently in BC


    How do we align our efforts at three scales – provincial, regional and local – to do business differently, prepare communities for change, and choose to be water smart? The foregoing challenge statement provided context for advancing a ‘regional team approach’ at the Penticton Forum. “The Province’s Living Water Smart and Green Communities initiatives provide a framework and direction for convening for action in the Okanagan, on Vancouver Island and in Metro Vancouver,” stated Glen Brown.

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    Convening for Action in the South Okanagan: Water for Life and Livelihoods

    Within the next 10 to 15 years it is projected that the available water in the Okanagan Basin will be fully allocated. At the same time, agricultural development is also expected to increase, with potential growth in the grape and wine sector leading the way. Also, the region will continue to experience both the benefits and consequences of climate change – that is, a longer growing season and changes in form and pattern of precipitation and runoff, respectively.

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    Groundwater protection planning and implementation by Rutland Waterworks District

    The Rutland Waterworks District (RWD) was commissioned in 1949 to serve about 50 properties in the Rutland area of Kelowna. At that time, the district held a water license for Mission Lake, located in the Greystokes. After recognizing potential groundwater sources, RWD relinquished its license on the surface water supply and built its first well into the Greater Kelowna Aquifer in the 1960s. The district now operates 15 active wells.

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    Westbank Irrigation District building world-class DAF water treatment plant

    The Westbank Irrigation District (WID) Board of Trustees is pleased to announce construction of its Powers Creek Water Treatment Plant. It is expected that the total cost to complete the water treatment plant and treated water reservoir will be about $18 million. WID presently has reserves of about $8.5 million, which will be utilized to offset these construction costs. Earlier this year, ratepayers approved WID borrowing of up to $13 million.

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    Groundwater Assessment in the Okanagan Basin (GAOB):

    The Groundwater Assessment in the Okanagan Basin (GAOB) project is a major partnership initiative to assess and characterize groundwater resources in the Okanagan. A Steering Committee for the project, which began in the fall of 2003, includes representatives from the Geological Survey of Canada, the Okanagan Basin Water Board and the Ministry of Environment.

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